It took several minutes of conversation, and a pry bar, but the two possible newlyweds were eventually separated. Scott stood against the wall, his eyes ablaze but pointed toward the ground. The mermaid cried softly and reached for him as though he might disappear forever.

"Seriously, what's your deal?" Cia asked the mermaid. "You show up out of nowhere and try to force Scott to marry you? Was that the plan?"

"Darling," whispered the mermaid sadly.

Eloa sighed loudly. "I hate to do this, but it has to be done."

The mermaid continued to whisper for her darling for a brief few seconds, her thighs rubbing together lightly as she did so. Eloa reached out and casually slapped her hard across the face. The fish-girl was sent reeling to the side.

Instead of anger growing in her eyes, only confusion appeared. The mermaid looked to Eloa then sighed loudly. "I am sorry... I can't help it."

"I know. I know. Mermaids and human guys..." Eloa reached over and lightly patted her watery associate on the back.

"Why would you go this far, though? You know that if he doesn't marry you, you'll probably die from the heartache," said Eloa.

The mermaid sighed loudly then plopped down atop the dining room table. "He didn't want to let me drown him in the river..." She looked over to Eloa, her shimmering eyes now ablaze with conviction. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Ask him out on a date or something?" asked Cia sarcastically.

The mermaid mumbled softly then looked down. Eloa, the only one who actually heard her words, rolled her eyes. "Get ahold of yourself woman... Mating is fun, but that was no reason to risk your life on a gamble."

Her nostrils flared softly as she looked to Eloa once more. This time she spoke with enough conviction for the entire room to hear her words, "No one has ever touched my heart in that way before. It shook me."

"Your heart? Is that what you call it now?" asked Eloa with a smug expression.

The mermaid clutched her hands to her chest and she offered her friend a wide-eyed expression. "It was the greatest moment of my life."

Eloa slapped her hand across her face and shook her head slowly. "You truly are a hopeless woman, aren't you?"

"I have a hope," whispered the mermaid softly. She looked over to Scott, her eyes shimmering gently in the light.

"Alright. I'm lost..." said Frank. "What's happening?"

Eloa chuckled quietly for a moment then turned to the side to present the mermaid to the rest of the room. "Our friend the Mermaid Queen, just pledged her heart and her people to your faction leader... because he once stuck his finger in her butt."

"Ah... huh?" asked Frank, his eyes widening.

The mermaid wiggled in her seat a little. "The beautiful memory haunts me with every beat of my heart."

Even Cia could not figure out the proper words to speak in that moment. Whatever aspect of her mind allowed her to fire off snarky commentary was broken in that moment.

"You tried to kill me, and then sang songs about drowning me," said Scott. "Why would I marry you?"

"Darling!" cried the mermaid, tears coming to her eyes.

"Cut that out. Tell me the truth." Scott leaned away from the wall that he had previously leaned against then took a step forward. "Why did you come here? You're not this ditzy. I refuse to believe it."

The mermaid continued to look at him sweetly for a moment, but Scott's gaze never wavered. Slowly, her innocent expression shifted to one of sadness. "I've told you the truth. I do want to marry you... but not just because of the intensely sweet moment that we shared."

"I was desperately trying to escape from you," said Scott.

The light began to shimmer in her eyes once more as she acquired a distant look. "Yes. It was adorable, really. I should have never let you go, but no one had ever touched me in such a way."

"Whatever, just tell me the real reason you came here," said Scott.

The mermaid sighed. "My faction is too small to survive. It is next to impossible to recruit normally since we can't even enter our dungeon to earn funds and no humans come near the water. Your faction is not much larger, but you're a human with a golden touch so..."

"Golden touch," said Cia with a snicker. She was back, baby!

"You can't enter your dungeon?" asked Brittani. The discussion of beautiful moments, and golden touches, caused a distinct discomfort for her. This sort of conversation was more suited to her sensibilities.

"Yeah, it's near the warehouses with all the cute little boat docks... but a group of humans took up there. They... did things to Cecilia," she said before she closed her eyes. "Those salvation crystals that the humans can use will keep even high-tier faction leaders out if they are not invited in, or they don't trick their way inside. My power is based on the amount of water around me as well. If this were an inland sea, or the open ocean..."

"What did they do to your friend?" asked Scott slowly.

The mermaid sighed. "She refused resurrection. She was my dearest sister..." She looked up at Scott, her eyes pleading for him to understand. "We came here together hoping to find someone to love, but all she found was a nightmare of fish hooks and laughing drunken men."

Scott closed his eyes and tried not to imagine what the girl was saying to him inside his mind. The implications were clear. However, he could not allow himself to be swayed purely by the plight of this girl. She had done him harm in the past. "That's terrible." Scott opened his eyes and looked keenly into hers. "Tell me why you tried to eat me alive, and drown me in the river."

The mermaid's expression shifted to one of confusion. Various other individuals in the room also took on a different expression than before. The drowning in the river part was something most only knew as part of a joke at his expense. The fact that he brought it up now made it serious business.

She closed her eyes then sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself." The mermaid opened her eyes and looked into his, "I am the queen of my small family. With that position comes a power born out of our connection to the water."

"Do you mean the mermaid power to foresee portents and visions of the future?" asked Brittani, curiously.

"Yes." The mermaid smiled softly. "What I saw made it impossible for me not to want to be with you forever."

"What exactly was it that you saw? Made you want to drown me and eat my corpse?" asked Scott slowly.

Her smile never wavered. "I saw a small laughing child in my arms, and then the image of a shining golden figure whose light spread across the land rebuilding what had fallen."

Scott coughed slightly then asked, "What makes you think that had anything to do with me?"

The mermaid looked at him curiously, "Your light was already starting to shine at that time, though most could not see it due to their lack of vision. Will you still deny it now that everyone can bear witness to its radiance?"

Everyone turned to Scott then looked him over. Admittedly, he did give off a soft golden glow.

Scott, however, was less interested in their curious gazes than in the words spoken by the mermaid queen. "You said that you could not enter a place with an active salvation crystal. You're here, though--" He turned to Harley, "and I think you also managed to slip past Harley's censors."

"Harley is sorry," said Harley, though her eyes did not waver. She stared penetratingly at the mermaid queen for quite some time now.

The mermaid nodded to him. "It's because I am your moon bride, darling. At the moment I register as a low-level human, even if my status is no different than before. I must admit though, I do not have access to my skills or abilities... I am practically helpless."

"You tackled me to the floor faster than I could react," said Scott with sarcastic smile that did not reach his eyes.

"I did say, practically. I can fight, but only have my base attributes to help me," she said softly.

Given what the nameless mermaid queen had to say, Scott could not help but wonder at the implications. It was not the first time that the salvation crystals, or Harley, were not able to completely defend an area. There were clearly rules that could be circumvented in clever ways. Other factions knew them, but he did not.

Michael decided to chime in with a question, "You still have not explained why you tried to kill and eat him in the first place."

The mermaid looked to Michael then back to Scott. "It is how factions work, isn't it? You call forth a soul that has passed from this world and bring them back as part of your faction."

"You could have just asked me if I wanted to be in your faction," said Scott slowly. "You didn't need to eat me alive or drown me in the river."

"Would you have said yes?" she asked him with curiosity alight in her eyes. "Would you have even trusted my intentions or words if I did ask?"

Her words were true, and her questions valid. Though, it proved difficult for him to accept their veracity. "No. Given how new all of this felt at the time it wouldn't have been possible for me to trust you."

He held up a hand to stop her from speaking then continued, "Even so, you tried to overpower me and steal my life. How is that different than what those bastards did to your friend Cecilia?"

She flinched back visibly then lowered her eyes a little. Her feet began to wriggle rapidly. Her breathing intensified. His words were damning. Despite how ridiculous she acted in the past, she clearly understood his meaning.

Scott stared at her. His eyes cold, reproachful, he nearly told her to leave and never return in that moment. However, something stopped him. It was not an outcry from one of his people, or a glance sent his way by Eloa. No. What stopped him was something he saw in the fish-girl's eyes. She no longer held the desperate and manic expression. Her face wore the expression of one who had lost everything. Hers were eyes he had grown accustomed to in recent days. The eyes of nearly every human being whom he had met since the first day of the apocalypse held such an expression.

Unbidden, a promise that he made not long ago came to mind. The golden light of his supposedly noble spirit intensified as the words of that promise were emblazoned across his inner world. It was the pledge he signed when he accepted his role as a noble lord.

Something happened to him in that moment as he realized the truth of his situation, of who he needed to become and not just the frightened man that he had been until that moment. The good fortune that befell him and his people came at a cost that he would normally pay freely. The mermaid who sat despondently before him did previously do him egregious harm, but she was also someone who suffered. By coming to him now she proved herself willing to make a grave sacrifice for both herself and her people.

The light that radiated from his body intensified further as he spoke. His voice became resonant, commanding in tone and in such a way that none who met him previously would believe. Any doubts he held faded even as his voice rang out with clear, confident, conviction. "Lift your head."

She gasped softly then immediately did as he asked. The resonant quality of his voice made it seem to her as though she had no choice in the manner. "You have harmed me. You sought to take my life from me, and make of me your pawn."

Everyone in the room took a step back, save for Brittani. She alone out of all of those gathered had seen a display similar to this before. She softly whispered, "Grandfather..." as Scott's light continued to shine brightly.

In that moment Scott was not merely Scott. He was Lord Badass, as silly as the title might sound. No mere man, but a true ruler whose light of nobility outshined the darkness of fear and doubt that would plague the mind of a normal man.

His resonant voice echoed through the dining hall as the other members of his faction seemingly forgot how to breathe for a time. "A normal man would rightly cast you out. Anyone with sense might do it, and no one could deny the rightness of it."

He took several steps forward and stretched out his hand to her. Trembling, she reached up and placed her hand in his. Though her actual power was beyond his, there was no sense of strength in her in that moment. Levels? Skills? What did any of that matter in the face of what she now saw, a hint of that which she had seen the first time that they had met?

"Neither I, nor my people can afford for me to be such a petty and fearful creature." Scott gently took her hand and held it fast in his own.

"Ah— are you sure about this?" asked Frank, his voice barely seeming to work. He did not know what it was that now took place before him, but he did know that it was incredibly difficult to even take a breath or to speak.

In answer, Scott spoke the words of his pledge line-by-line. "By the standards of my good name and actions heretofore, I do hereby make this pledge."

His light of nobility increased to the greatest intensity that he could muster at this point in his life as he continued to speak. "I will utilize my land, title, and powers for the betterment of not only myself and those under my banner, but also for those less fortunate whom need aid and succor in hours most dire."

He took a gentle breath then continued, "I will do so willingly, and without restraint for species or gender."

Tears began to flow from her eyes even as her lower lip quivered. It was happening right in front of her, the future that she foresaw. The light was nearly blinding in intensity due to her proximity to him.

Scott took a deep breath then spoke long, and slow. His words were measured and resonant so that all would understand them. "For the good of all, my word is law. My will is justice. My punishment of crime and villainous acts perpetrated against my people is both swift and fair. Let nothing sway me from this cause for the sake of the people whom give their lives into my care."

"What?" asked Cia softly, her words barely escaping her lips. Eyes wide and filled with a strange wonder at what she saw, it was impossible for her to say more on the matter.

The mermaid queen began to shake, to tremble, as the tears fell faster. "Darling..."

Scott looked into her eyes, his gaze somehow passive and intense at the same time. It was an impossible gaze, yet he somehow made it real. "Do you truly give yourself into my care? Do you seek to become part of my people?"

His eyes narrowed and began to search hers for signs of a lie. "You do know that I would rule over you and your sisters for the rest of our lives. Don't you?"

"Yes!" cried the mermaid. She lunged forward then clung to him. "Please, yes..."

"So be it," said Scott before his hand came down and he lightly stroked her hair.

Several minutes of quiet sobbing and gently hair stroking passed before someone spoke up. It was Frank. "So, what... happened exactly?"

Harley sighed loudly then answered, "Master is going to marry a weird girl."

"The words I spoke before were the pledge that I made when I formed this faction. It exists as a reminder that I agreed to be a symbol of light and hope in this ever-darkening world," said Scott. "It is as noble and foolishly idealistic as it sounds, but it is also what is needed most of all right now."

He turned to look at Frank, his faction, and the current hope for the region. "I'm not perfect. I get scared, too. I'm pretty cowardly at heart, despite all of the fighting that I do. I spent days alone in my house without daring to venture out."

He continued to berate himself for a moment. "I do stupid things, make the worst decisions sometimes."

Scott closed his eyes. "It would be so easy to just give in... I could revel in it, the lack of responsibility. How simple would it be to become something like a gang leader or a warlord?"

"It would be easy to be king shit sitting atop a throne of fearful scheming turds," he said with a derisive snort. "That's the best way to survive, right? Just fuck everyone else over and take what you want? Make them get on their knees and beg you to let them lick your feet just to get a few scraps?"

He held the mermaid tighter in his arms then wrinkled his nose in disdain. "Take everything and to hell with anyone else, right? That's the best, easiest, way to survive."

"No," said Rosa softly. She lightly ran her hand along the pommel of her sword. "If you were that kind of person I would be dead... You're far from a coward, and nothing like the other things you said."

He smiled gently at her then shook his head. "Fighting is easy. It's leading people that I was afraid of... How many have died because I did not step up and properly take charge? I always demurred whenever someone demanded whether or not I was supposed to be in charge."

A complicated expression crossed his face and he closed his eyes for a moment as the truth spilled from his lips. "How many are out there right now trying to survive alone? Terrified, dying, maybe both at once, and all because I wasn't the person that they needed me to be?"

"I won't stop anyone from leaving if they wish, but this decision is final. I'm going to help this ridiculous fish." Scott's expression hardened and remained hardened despite the mumbling that arose from the mermaid in his arms. "I cannot let myself continue to just be what I was before. I'm a goofy bastard, but I'm a goofy bastard who needs to stop choosing the easy decisions based on what he thinks people might want. I need to make the harder decisions that everyone needs me to make."

"The light shining from me is not mine alone," said Scott as he looked around at each of his people then to Brittani and Eloa. Finally his eyes fell to the top of the mermaid queen's head for a moment. "That light belongs to all of us. I am just its bearer. It is the light of the future that we want, one of hope where all people can be truly have a chance to be happy."

"Am I wrong?" he asked softly. "If I'm wrong tell me, now. The other road would be a hell of a lot easier."

No one answered him, immediately. It was not so much that his words were compelling, as they were surprising.

"You never stopped believing that? Did you?" asked Rosa. She bit her lip slightly and found that she could not look him fully in the eyes in that moment. "We can come back from the edge... and not become monsters doing it."

"I'm the same as anyone, Rosa. I literally shit my pants on day one, just like most people. I am not even going to pretend that I didn't." Scott looked to her then said, "I've never been this kind of person before."

He laughed a little, a sad tired sounding little laugh that died off quickly. "I was never a leader. I barely counted as a follower. I sort of just drifted along without any meaning to my life."

His laughter turned spastic for a moment as he said, "Hell, my last girlfriend left me for another woman because she was apparently twice the man I'd ever be."

The laughed turned self-deprecating shortly thereafter. "I hid in my house for a time, and was little more than fearful meat waiting to be devoured."

He looked to her and offered her a sincere expression. A quiet sigh emphasized his words, "I'm just some guy, Rosa. No one special, really. If anything I am in this position because I chose to stop hiding and fought back instead. That's all. We're all doing that much, now."

"Things started to turn around for me on the day when I stopped just caring about my own survival and chose to help other people," said Scott. "Every time I made that choice, things happened both good and bad... but in the end we're where we are now. We all made that choice to help each other, and hopefully many others can be helped in the coming days."

"I'm a goofy bastard. I accept that about myself." The quiet intensity of his eyes made his next words quite intriguing. "I can no longer be just a goofy bastard. I have to be a goofy bastard king."

"So, whaddya say, Team Badass?" asked Scott in a serious and overly dramatic tone. "After I make this mermaid's bridal dreams come true, let's go out there and make a difference!"

Several pairs of eyes blinked in tandem as his profound words struck a chord within their owners. Soon a few snickers erupted. Laughter soon followed in the wave of his proclamation. A soft smile crossed Scott's lips once he noticed that Brittani, and even Harley, began to laugh a little. Harley sighed loudly at him after the brief moment of good humor passed, but her lips held a lop-sided smile.

Laughter erupted once more when Cia playfully cried out, "You stole that last part from Deadpool!"

Scott chuckled in response, "Well, it would have worked better thematically if we had chimichangas for dinner instead of tacos. Forgive your errant lord his failure?"

"Nay, good sir!" cried Cia while she attempted to mimic a ye olde British accent. "The affront shan't be forgiven! Ah... forsooth?"

Her efforts brought another round of laughter which made Scott's smile widen slightly. It was good that his people could still laugh. It was no longer the end of the world, after all. It was a time when a new world would be born. They might well prove to be the mid-wives of that brave new era.